Hello all! I'm using my new MacBook laptop from our hotel in Spoleto, one of the three hotspots in town!

Weather is gorgeous and luminous mediterranean sun, with comfortable and cool evenings - the way it should be. Dining al fresco is simply ideal.

We have 34 people arriving on Sunday for our choral/cultural program and I have been busy doing out final touches in this unpredictable yet wonderful country.

If any of you come through this area, you must go to Ristorante La Cantina of chef Marco (student of Vissani). He combines traditional dishes with new Italian cuisine with the most artistic flair. As soon as I sat down I was poured a simple yet refreshing brut spumante. The head waiter is a wine geek, so he and I immediately began to talk about what was available:

2005 Orvieto Classico Barberani: delicious, fresh melon fruit; clean, refreshing, thirst quenching; clean, some roundness, but quite balanced. Maybe it was jetlag, or not, I was immediately transported to heaven. After that I had a glass of Tommasso Corricelli's 04 Montefalco rosso; quite elegant and a definite cabernet twist to this mostly sangiovese and sagrantino wine - amazing how huge the difference, even with the small amount of cabernet. Elegant, dark red/cherry fruit; slight cedar note on the nose.

That evening for dinner I went over to a friend's house and her father brought a 2001 San Clemente Montepulciano D'Abruzzo Zaccagnini: fabulous deep and slightly ripe berry fruit - very well balanced; rustic. I did not experience the usual Montepulciano turn-off; slightly chalky; ample with great acid balance; went perfect with freshly made pesto pasta, prosciutto.